‘FDR’ is returning to the Olympic Peninsula

Scott Larsen is hoping the weather will be dry and sunny when he visits Port Angeles and the Olympic Peninsula on Sept. 30, unlike 80 years ago when President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited.

As the former president, Larsen is the guest speaker for his “FDR Visits the City of Angeles” talk at History Tales, the monthly Clallam County Historical Society program.

The presentation is set for 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 1, in the social hall of the First United Methodist Church, 110 E. Seventh St., Port Angeles.

The event is one of four upcoming talks Larsen and Margaret Bauer — who will portray Eleanor Roosevelt — will give. The pair will also appear at 6:45 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, at Lake Crescent Lodge; following the 10 a.m. service at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (510 E. Park St.) on Sunday, Oct. 1, and at 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 2, at Lake Quinault Lodge.

“History is too important to leave in the dusty, old history books,” said Larsen. “That is why bringing it alive through talks and writings hopefully will instill curiosity around local history.”

A gale force wind almost led Roosevelt to cancel his trip to Port Angeles, Larsen found out, but Democratic politicians called the president in Victoria saying he must come “because the people on the peninsula are waiting to see you.” So come he did, says Larsen in a prepared press release.

The peninsula visits to Port Angeles, Lake Crescent and Lake Quinault were just three of dozens and dozens of visits FDR made on his 8,100-plus mile, two-week trip in 1937, Larsen discovered.